PhD Position on Spatial Planning of Industries Strategies and Circular Economy

Are you passionate about spatial planning and industrial strategies? Join us in shaping how additive manufacturing (AM) can help Dutch industry.

Job Description

We are looking for a highly motivated PhD candidate who will contribute to Work Package 3 of the Add-reAM project, a large NWO-funded interdisciplinary programme

• Universities: TU Delft, UTwente, TU Eindhoven, Erasmus University Rotterdam, ULeiden, Saxion University of Applied Sciences.
• Research institutes: M2i, NEN.
• Municipalities: Terneuzen.
• Companies and associations: Stichting Repair Cafes, Capgemini, Signify, Ramlab, Allseas, Techniek Nederland, SKF, GKN,MX3D, ProRail, Siemens, Berenschot Group, MKB Twente, UltiMaker, Vanderlande, 3devo, International Institute of Welding, Greenwise Campus, Regional Development Agency Oost NL, InNo Time, Logistics Centre of Excellence of the Royal Netherlands Army, Association FME.

Add-reAM aims to foster a sustainable, circular future where waste is minimized, resources are conserved and consumer needs are met without compromising the planet’s health.

While WP1 focusses on the next-generation AM, WP2 designs remanufacturing using AM, WP3 looks into regulatory, economic, political, environmental, and social innovations.

Your research will analyse AM in the Netherlands within geopolitical and socioeconoimc context. The current geopolitical turmoil is increasingly answered with industrial strategies, at EU and NL level, though much is still unclear. A clear ambition is to increase innovation, though after decades of deregulation, no clear industrial strategy, and even the closure of the Ministry of Planning in The Netherlands, a decent understanding, let alone a steering of industry is lacking. Building on earlier research, this PhD project will therefore analyse the structure and dynamics of industrial ecosystems surrounding AM in the Netherlands, examining how firms, institutions, and infrastructures interact to enable—or constrain—the development of a competitive and sustainable AM sector.

The PhD is situated within economic geography and spatial planning, and will use a mixed methods approach wherein quantitative data (e.g. socioeconomic and logistical data) will be combined with qualitative data (e.g. policy documents, interviews, expert sessions) to achieve an as complete possible analysis of the status-quo. Subsequently, pro-actively and in co-creation, public and private policy recommendations will be formulated to achieve a successful additive manufacturing in Dutch industry.

Case-studies will be defined during the project, in close collaboration with the consortium.

You Will

• Build a database model of different socio-economic and material data in order to have a nodal-relational dataset for the relevant industries.
• Further expand the existing visualisation methodology enabling to combine topographical and topological data, to visualise the actor-networks.
• Organise interviews and expert sessions to verify and improve the results, in order to eventually produce policy recommendations.
• Collaborate across disciplines with fellow PhDs in Add-reAM.
• Present your work in academic publications, policy briefs, conferences and workshops with public and private stakeholders.